Delhi HC Upholds Conviction Of 88 In Trilokpuri Riots, Demands Surrender Within Four Weeks

The Delhi High court today (28 November) dismissed the convicts’ plea against the trial court’s order and directed all 88 accused the 34-year-old anti-Sikh riots to surrender within four weeks, Hindustan Times has reported.

The court dismissed the plea filed by the 88 accused, who had challenged the 27 August, 1996 judgment of a sessions court which had convicted 88 out of the 107 people arrested on 2 November, 1984. The 88 were convicted of curfew violation, arson and riot in and around the East Delhi’s Trilokpuri area during the anti-Sikh riots in 1984.

However, only 47 of the 88 convicts are now alive. The Delhi High Court has asked them to surrender. The Patiala House Court on 20 November in Delhi sentenced to death one of two men found guilty of killing two Sikh men during the riots, the first death sentence handed out in a case related to the riots.

H S Phoolka, who represented the riot victims, has claimed that according to an FIR ( First Information) Report filed in the case, 95 people died during the riots in Trilokpuri and 100 houses were burnt.

The riots that ensued after the assassination of ex-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had claimed over 3000 Sikh lives across the country.